Review of 2012 Goals

I’m trying to get back into blogging. Although I didn’t post much of anything this past year, I was scrimping and saving just the same. Here’s how I did on my 2012 goals I set for myself in this post here.

11.       Have 3 “no spend days” each week. I’m not sure if I passed this one or not since I stopped keeping track about three weeks into January.  One thing I did learn over the past year, is if I make something too difficult, I won’t keep up with it. I tried to be so organized at the beginning of 2012 by creating a spreadsheet to keep track of what I was spending and saving, when I was exercising, how much water I was drinking each day…all that in addition to the spreadsheets I use to do my budget and keep track of my rebates. It was just too much. My guess is that I averaged 3 “no spend days” each week, but I don’t know for sure. FAIL.

22.   Get my emergency fund up to $10k. PASS!

33.       Pay off my mom and dad: I paid them down. I owed $1700 at the beginning of the year, and I’m down to a little over $600. This will be my first priority in 2013.

44.       Build a short term emergency fund of $1000. For a while this was a PASS! But I had to dip into it, and it only has $300 in it now. Second priority of 2013 is to get this back to $1000.

55.       Save for a new car. PASS! Once my emergency fund was up to $10k, I started putting 10% of my net paycheck into a separate savings account for a new car. I have over $3300 saved so far.

66.      Work out. PASS!  Again, I didn’t keep track of this, but I worked myself up to being able to run 6 miles over the summer (all at once…without stopping!) I also bought a few dumbbells, kettle bells and a yoga mat and did some weight lifting each week.

77.       This was a three part goal….Do a better job of eating more healthy: Pass! I all but gave up on drive thru food. I had a sundae from McDonalds once, but other than that, I didn’t get anything from McDonalds or Burger King all year. I did hit up a  Wendy’s one day and Taco Bell a few times, but that’s such an improvement over how often I was eating that stuff before. Drink more water and less soda. I all but gave up soda too. I think I averaged maybe one soda a month...again, way better than have 2-3 per day like I used to. I bought myself a Brita water pitcher for home and use the water cooler at work all the time. Bring lunch/dinner to work: Pass! I was pretty good about this most of the year. I allowed myself to get take out for one meal on days that I was working a double shift. There were definitely times that I was too lazy to pack something for work or didn’t have anything in the house to bring, but overall I did a pretty good job.

88.       Find a storage solution for the alcove in my dining room. Pass! I bought a buffet table last winter and I absolutely love it.